The likelihood of a final California Supreme Court showdown over same-sex marriage increased dramatically Monday when Attorney General Jerry Brown and the pro-Proposition 8 campaign urged the justices to decide whether the voter-approved ballot measure is constitutional….
The court could decide at its weekly conference Wednesday whether to accept the suits for review and whether to issue a stay that would block enforcement of Prop. 8 until a ruling is made. A stay would restore authority for gay and lesbian couples to marry, although those marriages — like an estimated 18,000 same-sex weddings performed before the Nov. 4 election — would have an uncertain status until the court cleared up Prop. 8’s legality and scope.
Read the full story by Bob Egelko at the San Francisco Chronicle.
We call on all supporters of equality to sustain and intensify the nationwide campaign of mass protests and nonviolent civil disobedience, for seven weeks, starting on Nov. 27, the 30th anniversary of the assassination of Harvey Milk, and to then gather together en masse, in Washington, D.C., on the morning of Tuesday, Jan. 20, to honor the inauguration of our President Barack Obama.
During the next seven weeks, we shall:
- Strive always to maintain a positive message of hope and change.
- Keep organizational structure to a minimum.
- Encourage participants to express their anger and determination in creative, thought-provoking and peaceful ways.
- Respect the media and law enforcement officers.
- Avoid attacking people’s religions. Hate language is always inappropriate.
- Reach out immediately to racial and ethnic minorities, immigrant communities, labor unions, progressive religious denominations and other organizations working for social change.
- Take your actions to downtown retail centers, transportation hubs and shopping malls for maximum impact during the holiday shopping season.
- Insist upon a commitment from all participants to nonviolence when planning civil disobedience.
- Study the history and traditions of nonviolent action. Angry marches and rhetoric can be cathartic, but do not necessarily help win hearts and minds to our cause. Effective forms of nonviolent civil disobedience often follow the peaceful, dignified and disciplined examples of Gandhi, the Quakers and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
- Remember always, and reflect in all your actions, that we are not fighting against anyone, or anything. We are struggling for equality.
For more information, go to www.sevenweekstoequality.com.
Read the entire essay by Cleve Jones and Dustin Lance Black in the San Francisco Chronicle.
The California Supreme Court has asked state Attorney General Jerry Brown to reply by Monday to lawsuits challenging the voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage — a sign that the justices are taking the cases seriously and will not dispose of them quickly….
The filing the court requested from Brown’s office will not address the ballot measure’s validity, but will focus instead on the initial questions of whether the justices should accept the suits for review — and, if so, whether they should suspend Prop. 8 while they decide the case, said the state’s lawyer, Christopher Krueger, a senior assistant attorney general. Suspending Prop. 8 would allow same-sex marriages to resume.
“I think it’s fair to infer that the court is looking at these (cases) very carefully,” Krueger said. Usually, he said, when plaintiffs ask the state’s high court to take up their case directly without first filing in a lower court, the justices dismiss the suit without asking the other side for a reply….
Read the full story by Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Gay and lesbian families nationwide have looked to New York state for a couple of years now with the expectation that marriage equality would be forthcoming there. With the Democrats taking a majority in the state senate this election, hopes were high that New York might become the fourth state to extend marriage equality to all of its residents.
But a power struggle within the ranks of Democrat lawmakers there has entwined the question of gays and lesbians being given the right to marry with the issue of who will assume the position of the state senate’s majority leader….
In the wake of the Democratic victory in New York, some Democrats are resisting the appointment of senate minority leader Malcolm A. Smith, a pro-marriage lawmaker, to the post Bruno will vacate.
Opponents of marriage equality are pushing for a new senate majority leader who would be antithetical to allowing gay and lesbian families to marry; they also say they would prefer a Latino Senate majority leader.
Opposing Smith’s appointment are state senators Rubén Díaz Sr. and Senator Pedro Espada Jr., reported The New York Times in a Nov. 11 article….
Díaz, who is also an evangelical pastor, has stated his opposition to marriage equality for gay and lesbian families; both Díaz and Kruger announced an intention to try to take the issue out of the hands of state lawmakers by turning the matter into a ballot initiative and putting marriage equality rights to a popular vote….
Read the full story by Kilian Melloy at The Edge.
…Leaders of Equality Utah said statements made by Mormon leaders in defense of their actions in California — that the church was not antigay and had no problem with legal protections for gay men and lesbians already on the books in California — were going to be taken as an endorsement to expand legal rights that gay and lesbian couples have never remotely had in Utah, where the church is based….
State Senator Scott McCoy, an openly gay Democrat who said he would sponsor the legislation with two openly lesbian members of the House of Representatives, said part of the goal was to find a positive outlet for the tensions that arose here as the fight raged over the California measure….
No attempt will be made, he and other Equality Utah members said, to overturn Utah’s constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman, passed in 2004. The group will propose, however, striking out language in the amendment that prohibits legal protections for domestic unions.
The proposed laws would also expand protections for same-sex couples in health care and hospitalization decisions, housing and employment and in inheritance issues in probate court.
Read the full story by Kirk Johnson in the New York Times.
Here is a list of the 44 members of the California legislature who joined the amicus brief asking the State Supreme Court to strike down Proposition 8:
- Senate President Pro Tempore Don Perata
- Senate President Pro Tempore-elect Darrell Steinberg
- Speaker of the Assembly Karen Bass,
- Assembly Speaker Emeritus Fabian Nunez
- Senator Ron Calderon
- Senator Gilbert Cedillo
- Senator Ellen Corbett
- Senator Christine Kehoe
- Senator Sheila Kuehl
- Senator Alan S. Lowenthal
- Senator Carole Migden
- Senator Alex Padilla
- Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas
- Senator Gloria Romero
- Senator Patricia Wiggins
- Assemblymember Jim Beall, Jr.
- Assemblymember Patty Berg
- Assemblymember Julia Brownley
- Assemblymember Anna M. Caballero
- Assemblymember Charles Calderon
- Assemblymember Joe Coto
- Assemblymember Kevin de Leon
- Assemblymember MarkDeSaulnier
- Assemblymember Mike Eng
- Assemblymember Noreen Evans
- Assemblymember Mike Feuer
- Assemblymember Felipe Fuentes
- Assemblymember Loni Hancock
- Assemblymember Mary Hayashi
- Assemblymember Edward P. Hernandez
- Assemblymember Jared Huffman
- Assemblymember Dave Jones
- Assemblymember Betty Karnette
- Assemblymember Paul Krekorian
- Assemblymember John Laird
- Assemblymember Mark Leno
- Assemblymember Lloyd E. Levine
- Assemblymember Sally J. Lieber
- Assemblymember Fiona Ma
- Assemblymember Anthony J. Portantino
- Assemblymember Lori Saldana
- Assemblymember Jose Solorio
- Assemblymember Sandre R. Swanson
- Assemblymember Lois Wolk
California Assembly Speaker Karen Bass said late Monday that more than 40 of her colleagues have signed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting a petition to overturn Proposition 8 in the state Supreme Court.
The petition filed last week by gay marriage advocates argues that a simple majority of voters can’t make such a major change to the state Constitution. Among the signers: Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, who called the initiative “a radical and dangerous precedent to set.,” and incoming Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg.
Read more at the Sacramento Bee.
Read the amicus brief.
Republicans and conservative Christian pastors are vowing to block any attempt by New York State’s new Democratic majority to pass marriage equality legislation for gay and lesbian couples.
Legislation to allow same-sex marriage was thwarted in the state Senate earlier this year by a GOP majority after passing the Assembly. Last Tuesday’s election, however, saw Democrats take a slim majority in Senate - prompting hope the bill will be passed in 2009. Gov. David Paterson (D) has said he would sign the bill if it is passed.
With only a two seat majority in the Senate, however, any Democratic bid to revive a marriage equality bill could be opposed by socially conservative members of the party….
Read the full story at 365gay.
The Campaign for California Families, a conservative religious organization opposed to marriage equality, wants to help defend Proposition 8 before the California Supreme Court, saying lawsuits seeking to overturn the Nov. 4 ballot measure threaten the initiative process….
They said Attorney General Jerry Brown’s office, which plans to defend Prop. 8 in court, represents only the interests of state officials in “furnishing marriage license forms” and enforcing the law, and can’t adequately speak for the voters who backed the measure….
Read the full story by Bob Egelko at the San Francisco Chronicle.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today expressed hope that the California Supreme Court would overturn Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that outlawed same-sex marriage. He also predicted that the 18,000 gay and lesbian couples who have already married would not be affected by the initiative.
“It’s unfortunate, obviously, but it’s not the end,” Schwarzenegger said in an interview on CNN this morning. “I think that we will again maybe undo that, if the court is willing to do that, and then move forward from there and again lead in that area.”…
Read the full story by Michael Rothfeld and Victoria Kimin the Los Angeles Times.
Strong opposition to the candidacy of Barack Obama in Arkansas may have helped conservatives pass a measure blocking the adoption of children by unmarried couples.
The measure, which voters overwhelmingly approved Tuesday and which prevents unmarried cohabitating couples from adopting or fostering children, won strong support from conservatives, exit polls found. The ban affects all unmarried couples but was written with the intent of preventing gay couples from raising children in Arkansas….
Many experts did not expect the measure to pass with Democrats nationwide flooding the polls to support Mr. Obama for president….
But conservatives mounted a grass-roots campaign, mainly through church groups, that framed the state’s case-by-case approach to adoption requests as an affront to traditional family values….
Read the full story by Robbie Brown in the New York Times.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressed deep disappointment on Friday that California voters approved Prop. 8, the measure banning same-sex marriage, and defended her ally, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, against critics who say his actions contributed to its passage….
“Unfortunately, I think people thought they were making a statement about what their view of same-sex marriage was,” the San Francisco Democrat said. “I don’t know if it was clear that this meant that we are amending the Constitution to diminish freedom in our state.”…
Read the full story by Zachary Coile at the San Francisco Chronicle.
…California Secretary of State Debra Bowen is expected to make an announcement about the uncounted ballots by Thursday afternoon.
Meanwhile, California county clerks stopped issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples based on the semi-official results and a provision in the state constitution that says that, if approved by a majority of voters, any amendment or revision should take effect immediately.
Several lawsuits were immediately filed seeking an injunction and arguing the unconstitutionality of Prop. 8 to the California Supreme Court. Attorney Gloria Allred and her partner John West filed a suit in the high court on behalf of their clients Robin Tyler and Diane Olson, who were the first lesbian couple married in Los Angeles after same-sex marriage became legal….
Read the full story by Karen Ocamb at AlterNet.
…Before the final votes on Proposition 8 were even tallied Wednesday, civil rights groups and San Francisco city officials filed two separate legal challenges in the California Supreme Court, asking the justices to block the state’s latest ban on same-sex marriages.
The salvos are expected to set in motion another protracted legal tussle over gay marriage that could eventually spill into other courts, including, at some point, the U.S. Supreme Court.
The civil rights challenge was filed on behalf of six same-sex couples who now want to marry, including San Jose partners Brad Jacklin and Dustin Hergert, who say they no longer have the right because of the passage of Proposition 8. The arguments in the state Supreme Court do not address the status of the estimated 18,000 same-sex couples who have married in recent months, a separate legal question that is expected to surface in other court cases.
Attorney General Jerry Brown has said he will defend those existing marriages, but Proposition 8 supporters question the validity of such unions because the ballot measure bars legal recognition of gay marriages. Most legal experts say courts frown on taking away established rights, but Loyola law Professor Jennifer Rothman noted that it would create a “bizarre world” in California with some gay couples married and others deprived of the future right to tie the knot under Proposition 8….
Read the full story by Howard Mintz in the San Jose Mercury News.
A day after California voters approved a state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, the incendiary issue returned to the state Supreme Court, where gay and lesbian couples and the city of San Francisco filed lawsuits Wednesday seeking to overturn Proposition 8.
And Attorney General Jerry Brown, who represents the state in court, said he would defend the legality of the thousands of same-sex marriages conducted in the 5 1/2 months leading up to election day — even though sponsors of Prop. 8 say the measure was intended to invalidate those marriages. That controversy is also likely to end up before California’s high court and could reach the U.S. Supreme Court….
Read the full story by Bob Egelko at the San Francisco Chronicle.